It is one thing to read about situations or to see those in movies, but it is entirely different to see similar situations in your close circle. Everyone knows about the corruption and the precarious police situation in India. In fact the last few days that I have been here, all the news headlines have been related to corruption at even the highest levels in this country. Movies are regularly made to show the corruption in the police department where if you’re a victim of a crime and go to police there is a much higher probability that you will be further victimized rather than being helped. Most people consider going to police only in the worst situation.
I have been hearing about Shaheer’s sister Shabad’s disappearance and then her murder. Her body was found in a remote area in a dam. Based on all indications, this appears to be a case of murder. What Shaheer described is a clear case where suicide is very improbable. But the police department seems to have been bribed. Witnesses have changed their statements because they were pressurized and told by Police to do so. Police department is trying to victimize the family of the crime victim and the prime suspect is not even being questioned. The only question he was asked was – “Did you do it?�. Hearing the story from Shaheer is very touching. It makes one angry about the system. But what could you do? He was working for Lambent in San Diego, but now he is back here. He wants to find how did this all happen and help his parents. But this appears to be one of those standard cases in India which result in increasing frustration for law abiding people.
When I discussed this case with Dileep Tuli aqnd Prakash Jain who are both very successful people here and know the system well. They were not surprised and told me that the best action in this case for Shaheer is to let it go. I don’t want to believe that the situation is so bad that police department people try to get money from murder victim’s family to even do routine things, but that is the way of life here.
When you see such things and the villages in India, all the talk about India doing well and becoming an economic power soon, sounds very hollow, homehow.
I am sorry to hear about that and I sincerely express my condolences to the family of the victim.
You are absolutely right, it does feel frustrating to hear that India is on the brink of rapid growth and sometimes it does feel like nothing has changed and nothing ever will. There is only hope against hope.